A team of ‘gastronauts’ have spent the past four months living in a small dome on a barren Hawaii lava field, trying to find out what foods astronauts might eat on a mission to Mars.

They emerged yesterday with their recipes and without the space suits they were required to wear each time they ventured onto the northern slope of Mauna Loa - an active volcano that last erupted in 1984.

The group of six had been working as part of a $1 million Nasa HI-SEAS (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) project on an isolated slope of a Hawaiian volcano.

A team of six researchers have spent the past four months living in a small dome on a barren Hawaii lava field, trying to find out what foods astronauts might eat on a mission to Mars. They emerged yesterday with their results

The aim of the project, funded by NASA’s Human Research Program, the University of Hawaii and Cornell University, was to learn about living and cooking for long-duration space missions.

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In between other research projects, the team cooked up meals that were divided between freeze-dried food and meals they were able to cook themselves from the food available at the time.

Team commander Angelo Vermeulen said the problem with ingredients that are not perishable is they're usually highly processed and lack fibre.

He added that he was impressed with how freeze dried products taste very similar to fresh produce.

But what is also important for future space missions is comfort food, he said.

A favourite among the crew was nutella, the chocolate-hazelnut spread. ‘It's something we craved,’ he said. ‘We had a limited supply so we had to ration it.’

A favourite among the crew was nutella, the chocolate-hazelnut spread, and sweet cakes

The study included an open call for recipes that involved a lot of Spam.

The canned meat, popular in Hawaii households, was a common ingredient in suggested recipes because of its shelf-life, said Kim Binsted, a UH-Manoa associate professor who is an investigator on the study but didn't live in the habitat.

The researchers prepared several dishes using Spam, including a Cajun jambalaya and a fried rice noodle dish.

Couscous was also popular with the researchers almost instantly running out of the ingredient.

According to Nasa, longer space exploration in the future, namely missions to Mars in the 2030s, present the new challenge of providing food systems to support years-long journeys.

The team cooked up meals that were divided between freeze-dried food and meals they were able to cook themselves from the food available at the time. Pancakes were a popular choice

Canned meat was a common ingredient in suggested recipes for the team because of its shelf-life

‘We’re looking at how much of the food for a Mars surface mission should be processed packaged food systems versus a bio-regenerative food system, which is growing fresh fruits and vegetables,’ said Michele Perchonok, Advanced Food Technology Project scientist at NASA.

On a mission to Mars, astronauts may be able to grow their own food as well as bring along raw ingredients that they can make into tofu, bread, pasta, and flour.

‘They may make a meal with fresh pasta with a pasta sauce made from a tomato and green onions and bell peppers in the garden and then maybe make bread from the flour also. Maybe even have cookies at the end of the meal,’ Ms Perchonok said.

However, there are several challenges to feeding a hungry crew in space. The food needs a five-year shelf life and enough variety to stay interesting.

Ms Perchonok has collaborated with
Jean Hunter, associate professor of biological and environmental
engineering, to research why astronauts lose their sense of taste in
space.

In low gravity more body fluids shift to the head, affecting the sense of smell.

According to Nasa, longer space exploration in the future, namely missions to Mars in the 2030s, present the new challenge of providing food systems to support years-long journeys

The HI-SEAS Habitat is located at approximately 8000 ft elevation in an abandoned quarry on the northern slope of Mauna Loa in Hawaii. The site contains little vegetation, no rare, threatened or endangered species, and no archaeological sites or cultural practices

Early in a mission, astronauts of ten develop round ‘Charlie Brown; faces because of the fluid, and they feel like they have a cold, Ms Perchonok said.

Ms Hunter’s research is testing whether this affects the amount astronauts can taste.

In a separate project, volunteers will spend several weeks in a bed with their heads lower than their feet.

The Cornell team will measure how fluid buildup in the head affects their sense of smell and how long that effect lasts.

‘We’ll
get a better understanding of how much of sensory loss of flavour is
due to the fluid shift and how much might be due to other pieces,’ said
Ms Perchonok.

Results
for the latest HI-SEAS project will take several months to process all
the data gathered. Binsted hopes to present findings at the
International Astronautical Congress later this year in Beijing.

The team performed other research tasks, including microbial analysis of food in the lab

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If you want to survive a trip to Mars, stock up on Spam and Nutella claims $1m Nasa research